Jaimie Krems

August 12, 2008 –
Conor Oberst (a.k.a. Bright Eyes) and the Mystic Valley Band kicked off a 17-song set at Philadelphia's Trocadero last night (Aug. 11) with "Sausalito," and from first strum to last gasp, they kept the at-capacity crowd rooted in a bygone age. Tracks from recently-gone-solo Oberst's self-titled debut, like "I Don't Want to Die (in the Hospital)" and the straight-forward rock of "Danny Callahan," were as much at home around a campfire in Sergio Leone's Wild West as sprung from the lips of indie/folk/rock's favorite son.

April 4, 2008 –
It's dark, you're sweaty, and there's smoke coming from more than just the mist machine onstage. So was the case last night (April 3) at Sasha and Digweed's first show together in Philadelphia in more than six years, as the Fillmore at the TLA pulsated, and the duo's laptops, a stage set resembling an old school boom box, and fans' rave glow sticks provided the club's only luminosity.
Lost in their own orbits, the ridiculously wide-ranging mix of fans danced nonstop, beginning in small pockets at 10 P.M. and evolving into a solid wall of movement by 2 A.M., gyrating along to cuts from the duo's expansive catalogue, as well as on-the-fly mixes.

January 18, 2008 –
Who? Angus Stone (vocals/guitar), 21, and older sisterJulia, 23 (piano/vocals) hail from Sydney. The Aussie rock duo, whoalso get a little help from drummer Mitchell Connelly and bassist ClayMcdonald, have already made splash down under and across the pond withtheir debut EP, the cinematic indie folk dressed Chocolates & Cigarettes, available now via iTunes.

August 21, 2007 –
Despite getting to rainy Philadelphia's Fillmore at the TLA a little late -- according to facetious co-frontmen Spencer Krug (also of Sunset Rubdown and Frog Eyes) and Dan Boeckner (also of Handsome Furs), "a gas station blew up" along the way -- the Montreal fivesome held the stage for a straight hour and half...fifteen minutes past curfew.
The encore, not to mention the song Boeckner called their "last, but a 12-14 minute song" may have put them over the time limit, not that anyone in the rain-drenched audience cared.